HoloLamp Delivers AR Without Glasses (Video)

HoloLamp debuted its augmented reality projector system today at CES 2017, the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas this week. The projector makes it possible for augmented reality to interact with real objects, and no special glasses or smartphone are required to see its animated images.

The result looks a lot like that scene in Star Wars where Chewbacca and R2-D2 are playing a board game and C-3PO implores the droid to “Let the wookie win.”

Founded last spring, London-based HoloLens envisions its product being used for games, product marketing, education, or in the workplace.

“A headset reduces a user’s field of view and tends to be uncomfortable, whereas HoloLamp enables the user to achieve an immersive experience without having to hold or wear any equipment,” said HoloLamp cofounder Guillaume Chica in a statement provided to VentureBeat. “The hands-free and glasses-free technology allows users to easily engage with their surroundings while using HoloLamp, making it an ideal solution for numerous business and personal environments.”

Objects created by HoloLamp can be manipulated with a PlayStation 4 controller today, but in the future the company wants to make control of objects possible by touching the surface where an image is projected.

The HoloLamp projector will ship with an animated chess game akin to the kind seen in Star Wars and will be available for purchase in the first quarter of this year, the company said. To operate, the projector requires an HDMI cord and a Windows 10 or Mac OS computer.